Statoil and its partners temporarily halted drilling on the Veslefrikkin field in the North Sea.
The Veslefrikkin field. From Statoil. |
Veslefrikk lies in Norwegian North Sea block 30/3 in production license 052, about 30km north of Oseberg.
The stoppage is due to the time that will be needed to interpret new seismic data, which can help in bringing profitable new drilling targets on the field to maturity, Statoil said.
The drilling stoppage is expected to last for a minimum of six months.
The Veslefrikk field came on stream in 1989 as the first development off Norway to use a floating production unit. The field was redeveloped with two facilities, Veslefrikk A and Veslefrikk B.
Oil from the field is landed via the pipeline from the Oseberg development to the Sture terminal outside Bergen. Gas travels through the Statpipe system via Kårstø north of Stavanger to Emden in Germany.
Statoil is the operator of PL 052 with 18% interest. Partners include Petoro (37%), Talisman Energy Norway (27%), RWE Dea Norway (13.5%), and Wintershall Norway (4.5%).